Sri Lanka bird watching holiday
| country: | Sri Lanka |
| departures: | This trip can be tailormade at a time to suit you and can be adapted to suit your interests, budget and requirements as necessary |
| price: | From £845 (14 days) excluding flights. Price based on 2 sharing. £750 based on 4 sharing. Price includes HB accommodation, experienced naturalist chauffeur guide, safari jeeps, entrance fee, airport transfers. |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Sri Lanka is an island, which defies convention. According to classic island bio-geographic theory, small islands don't have large mammals.
Unfortunately for theory Sri Lanka is an exception, as the largest terrestrial mammal in Asia, the Asian Elephant, is found on the island. What is more, Sri Lanka is beyond doubt the best place in Asia to see the Asian Elephant.
What about birds? Islands are marvelous vestibules for evolutionary dynamics to work, resulting in speciation. Here, the theorists have got it right. The island has thirty-three endemic species of birds.
Our naturalist tour guide will receive you on arrival at the Colombo International Airport, and he will be with you until the end of your holiday. We will provide accommodation for you at hotels and lodges located in close proximity to the sites you would be visiting. The tour program has been designed with particular attention to reduce travel time.
The office staff will be in touch with you constantly during your holiday to ensure that everything is working as planned and most often than not at least one member of the office team would meet you in the field before you depart.
The tour engages local service providers such as safari jeep operators, local lodges and restaurants, which ensure that your time in Sri Lanka benefits the local community.
During this tour, you would be visiting the key sites for bird watching in Sri Lanka. You will explore by foot some of Asia’s fantastic rainforests and you will also do safaris at Sri Lanka’s finest National Parks. The tour will also have sufficient time for relaxation. At a suitable point during the tour we will advice you to visit some of the well run charities for development of local villages.
Best time to go: For general purpose bird watching, especially for a family holiday with elephants, leopards and other mammals thrown in, the country is a year round destination. Serious birders in pursuit of the endemics traditionally prefer November to April when the rainforest rich south-west is at its driest.
Photograph: Ceylon Grey Hornbill
Unfortunately for theory Sri Lanka is an exception, as the largest terrestrial mammal in Asia, the Asian Elephant, is found on the island. What is more, Sri Lanka is beyond doubt the best place in Asia to see the Asian Elephant.
What about birds? Islands are marvelous vestibules for evolutionary dynamics to work, resulting in speciation. Here, the theorists have got it right. The island has thirty-three endemic species of birds.
Our naturalist tour guide will receive you on arrival at the Colombo International Airport, and he will be with you until the end of your holiday. We will provide accommodation for you at hotels and lodges located in close proximity to the sites you would be visiting. The tour program has been designed with particular attention to reduce travel time.
The office staff will be in touch with you constantly during your holiday to ensure that everything is working as planned and most often than not at least one member of the office team would meet you in the field before you depart.
The tour engages local service providers such as safari jeep operators, local lodges and restaurants, which ensure that your time in Sri Lanka benefits the local community.
During this tour, you would be visiting the key sites for bird watching in Sri Lanka. You will explore by foot some of Asia’s fantastic rainforests and you will also do safaris at Sri Lanka’s finest National Parks. The tour will also have sufficient time for relaxation. At a suitable point during the tour we will advice you to visit some of the well run charities for development of local villages.
Best time to go: For general purpose bird watching, especially for a family holiday with elephants, leopards and other mammals thrown in, the country is a year round destination. Serious birders in pursuit of the endemics traditionally prefer November to April when the rainforest rich south-west is at its driest.
Photograph: Ceylon Grey Hornbill
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrival in Sri Lanka and transfer to Villa Talangama, Colombo for one night. If time of arrival permits, birding at Talangama wetland to mop out most of the regular wetland birds. Mr. Padmanathan who is the single cook at the Villa is generally very generous in providing large quantities of delicious Sri Lankan meals. |
| Day 2: | After breakfast leave for Martin’s Simple Lodge, Sinharaja for three nights. Afternoon, visit Sinharaja Rainforest (A UNESCO World Heritage Site) for lowland endemics and mixed species bird flocks. According to a study of the mixed species bird on average 42 individual birds occur in the flocks, which makes this world's largest mixed species bird flock. The mixed species Bird flock study of Sinharaja forest has been continuing since 1981 and is considered as the World's longest studied bird flock study. Birding highlights include Red-faced Malkoha, Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, White-faced Starling and Scaly Thrush. |
| Day 3-4: | Full day’s birding at Sinharaja Rainforest. Your naturalist guide will take you to some of his favourite spots to look for the Serendib Scops Owl. During your stay at Martin’s Lodge you will enjoy some of the lovely Sri Lankan meals cooked by the family members of Martin Wijesinghe. |
| Day 5: | After breakfast, leave for Elephant Reach, Yala for two nights. Afternoon, birding at wetlands near Tissa for a closer look at some of the waders. |
| Day 6: | Morning and afternoon, safari at Yala National Park. According to the Leopard Research sponsored, under the Jetwing Research Initiative Yala Block 1 has one of the highest densities of Leopards in the world. Yala therefore offers one of the best chances in Asia to see Leopards. Other large animals you may see include Elephant, Sloth Bear, Mugger Crocodile, Spotted Deer, Sambhur, Barking Deer, Wild Boar, Wild Buffalo, Jackal, Grey Langur and Mongoose. Birding highlights include Malabar Pied Hornbill, Painted Stork, Lesser Adjutant and Black-necked Stork. |
| Day 7: | Morning visit Bundala National Park in safari jeeps, afternoon leave for St. Andrew’s Hotel, Nuwara Eliya for two nights. En route visit Jon’s Charity at Kirinda Village. |
| Day 8: | Morning visit Horton Plains National Park to see Cloud Forests and rare montane fauna, which include the endemic Rhino-horned Lizard, which was featured in Charles Darwin's monumental work on evolution, Bear Monkey, Giant Squirrel and Sambhur. Walk though the grasslands and Cloud Forests to a popular viewpoint know as World's end, which is an escapement with a 870 m drop. We also look for endemic birds Yellow-eared Bulbul and Sri Lanka Hill White-eye and Dull blue Flycatcher. Afternoon relaxation at the English Gardens at the hotel. |
| Day 9: | Morning visit, Victoria Park for Himalayan migrants Kashmir Flycatcher, Pied Thrush Indian Pitta and Indian Blue Robin. Other highlights include Yellow-eared Bulbul, Sri Lanka Hill White-eye and Dull blue Flycatcher. After breakfast leave for Sisira’s River Lounge, Kithulgala for two nights. Late evening, visit Kelani Valley Forest Reserve for the Owls. |
| Day 10: | Morning the local villager will help you cross the Kelani River in a dugout canoe and reach the Kelani Valley Forest Reserve, which is a lowland tropical rainforest rich in endemic fauna and flora. The Kelani Valley Forest Reserve is ideal for any missed lowland endemics such as Sri Lanka Myna, Green-billed Coucal, Spot-winged Thrush, Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, Sri Lanka Spurfowl, Brown-capped Babbler and Red-faced Malkoha. Late evening we look for Sri Lanka frogmouth. Sisira’s River Lounge is a village house with wooden lodges ideal for relaxation and the small garden attracts a number of endemic species of birds. |
| Day 11: | After breakfast leave for Teak Forest Lodge, Sigiriya for two nights. En route visit Temple of the tooth relic, Kandy. Late evening walk with your naturalist guide to look for the nocturnal loris. The grey loris is not rare, but scarcely seen because of its nocturnal habits. Mr. Kamal who is the single owner of Teak Forest, which is a small operation, is very friendly and his team is always delighted to provide their best services especially for bird watchers. |
| Day 12: | Morning, climb with your naturalist the Sigiriya Rock Fortress, which was the pleasure capital of a single king, called Kashyapa in the 5 th century A.D. Also visit the Sigiriya Sanctuary, which is fantastic for dry zone birding. We look for the scarce resident Blue-eared Kingfisher. Afternoon, visit Polonnaruwa (A UNESCO World Heritage Site), the medieval capital of Sri Lanka. Visit the world famous rock-cut Buddha statues of Gal Vihara and the Parakrama Samudra (‘Sea of Parakrama’) a 2500-hectare man made reservoir built by King Parakramabahu I (1153 –1186 AD) with a capacity of 134 million cubic metres. Birding highlights include Wooly-necked Stork, Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, Large Cuckoo Shrike and Coppersmith Barbet. |
| Day 13: | After breakfast leave for Seashells Hotel, Negombo for one night. Afternoon relaxation by the beach. |
| Day 14: | Transfer to International Airport. |
travelling with a local operator
This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.how this holiday makes a difference
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We aim to be an advocate of conservation so that the very resources the company depends are conserved for future generations. Through our publishing division we produce series of field guides on birds, mammals, butterflies and dragonflies as tools to spread the message for conservation. We distribute copies of these to naturalist guides to enhance their field knowledge and skills. We also give copies of these booklets to schools and societies with the objective of creating interest towards conservation.
We take our environmental responsibilities seriously and strive to minimise the impact on the environment. Together with our sister company, we encourage and implement practices in use by conservation organisations in Europe. For example we invite members of RSPB-UK to spend their sabbatical at some of our properties to work on nature related projects. Our primary social responsibility is to create sustainable livelihoods in a manner, which does not compromise the environment. The tour includes overnights at small lodges such as Martin’s Simple Lodge, Sisira’s River Lounge and Teak Forest. These are very basic but clean and comfortable lodges. The atmosphere at these places is very similar to living in small village houses. Martin and his two daughters run Martin’s Lodge. All of them actively participate in running the lodge and they charge very reasonable prices only to sustain their revenue stream. Mr. Sisira runs his small lodge, which has five wooden lodges, which are clean and comfortable. He has employed two ladies from the local village who cook lovely Sri Lanka meals to all our clients. He has also employed a young boy from the neighbourhood to look after the administration work of the lodge. Mr. Kamal who has great passion for nature runs Teak Forest, which is a lovely place. He has a team of local experts who take charge of the kitchen operations including providing lovely Sri Lankan food. All these three small places have great passion towards helping both local and international students who engage in research projects on nature. We have a policy of paying all our suppliers promptly without delaying payments to maximise interest income of ease company cash flows. We recognise that for small local suppliers prompt payments are critical.  All national parks we take our clients to, come under the control of Department of Wildlife Conservation. Proceeds earned from entry tickets are pumped back to the conservation and development of the national parks. At a suitable point during the tour we will advice you to visit “Yala Fund” which is a UK charity set up in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. It raises money to alleviate financial hardship and suffering with a particular focus on Sri Lanka. The name "Yala" comes from Yala National Park in south eastern Sri Lanka. The charity helps tsunami communities as well as impoverished rural schools and other deserving causes. Approximately 8% of the total employment in Sri Lanka is created through tourism. Your visit on this trip will certainly help many families who solely depend on tours such as these to sustain their revenue streams. Photograph: Serendib scops-owl |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |